The DARK88 is a versatile break in/ out box for sending/ receiving analogue audio to/ from a network utilizing the Dante audio over IP (AoIP) protocol.

In total there are 8 channels of audio sent from the Dark88 into the network. The Dark88 has 8 off analogue electronically balanced audio inputs on Neutrik XLRs.

Simultaneously there are 8 channels of audio being received from the network by the Dark88 and these incoming circuits are provided as outputs from the Dark88 in analogue.

Being designed for resilient broadcast applications the Dark88 features both redundant power supplies and redundant Dante network links. Both primary and secondary network links are provided with both magnetic (copper RJ45) and fibre (SFP) interface connections. The Dante system itself provides a completely transparent redundant link system which means that if the Dark88 lost its primary link circuit the secondary link would automatically take over with no loss of audio.

The primary and secondary network interfaces are routed internally via a network switch and it is possible to set this switch to work as a traditional network switch instead of the default redundant mode meaning that there would be just one link to the Dante network and the other connections of the switch could have other Dante or network devices connected to them. As with all Dante devices once set up Dark88 units can be directly connected with each other with no external network hardware.

On the front panel 2 bright LEDs indicate the status of the 2 power supplies.

Network connections are placed on the front panel of the DARK88 in order that the network cables (or fibres) match those of a rack mounted professional network switch, making installation and tracing interconnecting cables easy. Fibre connections are via SFP slots, meaning that users can select their own preferred fibre type & connector style by installing their own fibre SFP modules (a selection of modules are available from Glensound if preferred).

For those customers who want to utilise the AES67 Audio over IP protocol then a special version of code can be installed in the Dar88 to accommodate this.

The firmware that runs the Dante Network Interface in the DARK88 is updated using Audinate's Firmware updating tool (Audinate are the company behind Dante). The updating tool and a user guide can be downloaded from Audinate's website https://www.audinate.com/products/firmware-update-manager.

The actual firmware to install using the above tool can be downloaded from: http://www.glensound.co.uk/Software/Dante/DARK88_1.0.0.3.zip

When you download the above file please make sure that you know where your computer has saved it and then you'll need to unzip it before installing it with Audinate's update tool.

Please note we strongly advise that when you do the update that only your pc and the Dark88 that you wish to update are on the network to save accidently updating the wrong Dante device.